A  TEMPLE 

OF 

AMERICAN  HISTORY 

THE  WILLIAM   L.   CLEMENTS  LIBRARY 


BY 


WILLIAM  WARNER  BISHOP 

University  of  Michigan 


WITH  INTRODUCTORY  REMARKS  BY 

PRESIDENT  MARION  LEROY  BURTON 


PRIVATELY  PRINTED 

AXX  ARBOR,  MICHIGAN 

1922 


I 


^^1^*1  *•) 


>N^u>^«  >  , 


A  TEMPLE 

OF 

AMERICAN  HISTORY 

THE  WILLIAM  L.  CLEMENTS  LIBRARY 


BY 

WILLIAM  WARNER  BISHOP 

University  of  Michigan 


WITH  INTRODUCTORY  REMARKS  BY 
PRESIDENT  MARION  LEROY  BURTON 


PRIVATELY  PRINTED 

ANN  ARBOR,  MICHIGAN 

1922 


ZT33 


FOREWORD 

The  address  here  printed  was  delivered  at  the  laying  of 
the  corner-stone  of  the  William  L.  Clements  Library  of 
American  History  on  March  31,  1922.  The  donor  of  the 
building  and  of  the  Library,  Regent  William  Lawrence 
Clements,  personally  laid  the  corner-stone  in  the  presence 
of  the  Regents  and  a  small  group  of  faculty,  students  and 
friends  of  the  University  of  Michigan.  President  Marion 
LeRoy  Burton  presided  and  the  University  Band  furnished 

the  music. 

W.  W.  B. 


63175? 


ORDER  OF  EXERCISES 

THE  "VICTORS" The  University  Band 

INTRODUCTORY  REMARKS.  .President  Marion  LeRoy Burton 

ADDRESS — A  TEMPLE  OF  AMERICAN  HISTORY— 

William  Warner  Bishop 

LAYING  OF  THE   CORNER  STONE  BY  REGENT  WILLIAM 
LAWRENCE  CLEMENTS 

THE  "YELLOW  AND  BLUE" The  University  Band 


INTRODUCTORY  REMARKS 
BY  PRESIDENT  MARION  LEROY  BURTON 

Members  of  the  Board  of  Regents  and  of  the  University: 

We  lay  today  the  corner-stone  of  the  Clements  Library 
of  American  History.  It  represents  the  life-long  interest 
and  scholarly  devotion  of  the  donor.  This  occasion  is  a 
natural  and  instinctive  response  to  a  most  notable  event 
in  the  life  of  the  University  of  Michigan. 

This  building  will  provide  a  home  for  a  really  great  col- 
lection of  Americana.  It  is  strikingly  appropriate  in  a 
University,  organized  and  maintained  by  the  people  of 
this  great  State,  that  provision,  in  such  generous  and  ade- 
quate fashion,  should  be  made  for  the  study  of  our  own 
annals.  Our  reputation  as  a  true  University  will  be  en- 
hanced by  this  gift.  In  this  beautiful  edifice  the  actual 
sources  for  thorough  research  work  in  American  History 
will  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  the  Faculty  and  students. 

It  is  unusually  noteworthy  that  this  munificent  gift  is 
made  to  the  University  by  one  of  its  own  loyal  sons  who 
through  the  years  has  served  faithfully  and  wisely  as  a 
member  of  its  Board  of  Regents. 

In  partial  recognition  of  these  and  other  considerations 
we  have  planned  these  simple  exercises.  We  have  asked 
the  Librarian  of  the  University,  Mr.  William  Warner 
Bishop,  to  deliver  the  address  upon  this  occasion. 


A  TEMPLE  OF  AMERICAN  HISTORY 

This  ceremony  marks  a  stage  in  the  accomplishment  of 
a  great  hope  and  a  great  purpose.  Behind  every  building 
and  every  project  there  lies  an  idea  and  an  inspiration. 
Truly  Dr.  Richard  Storrs  was  right  when  he  said  that  the 
great  Brooklyn  Bridge  was  carried  across  the  turbulent 
waters  of  the  East  River  on  the  point  of  John  A.  Roebling's 
pencil.  And  today  we  have  placed  the  cornerstone  of  a 
home  of  learning  which  lay  long  in  the  mind  and  heart  of  the 
donor  before  it  took  outward  and  visible  form  under  the 
skilled  hands  of  the  architect.  This  cornerstone  typifies 
no  passing  whim  or  momentary  fancy,  but  rather  a  settled 
purpose,  a  resolution  carried  to  fruition  through  long  years 
of  patient  search  and  sustained  effort. 

That  purpose  was  first  the  creation  of  a  library  of  the 
original  printed  sources  for  the  history  of  the  discovery, 
the  exploration  and  settlement  of  North  America;  and 
later  the  provision  of  an  adequate  and  beautiful  structure 
to  house  that  library  in  fitting  fashion  to  reach  its  fruition 
in  the  work  of  a  great  university.  Here  was  an  idea  and 
an  ambition  to  fire  the  imagination  of  any  scholar.  It  re- 
mained for  a  manufacturer  and  banker  not  only  to  conceive 
the  idea  but  to  carry  it  out  through  thirty  years  of  devoted 
labor  in  hours  snatched  from  the  cares  of  a  great  business 
career. 

Few  folk  know  how  slight  are  the  foundations  on  which 
rests  our  knowledge  of  the  history  of  this  continent.  Ac- 
customed to  look  to  mauscript  sources  for  the  history  of 
the  ancient  world  and  the  middle  age,  too  many  take  com- 
fortable refuge  in  the  thought  that  as  America  was  dis- 
covered and  explored  after  the  invention  of  printing,  it 
must  be  easy  and  simple  to  gather  the  materials  for  the 
story  of  the  discovery  of  the  continent  and  the  slow  growth 

9 


of  the  knowledge  of  its  surface.  They  forget  that  the 
explorers  and  discoverers  were  seldom  men  of  letters. 
Their  rude  accounts  and  ruder  maps  got  into  print,  it  is 
true,  with  great  rapidity  at  times,  and  but  slowly  at  other 
times.  But  as  a  rule  the  reports  of  their  findings  were 
printed  in  small  numbers,  were  read  to  tatters  by  eager 
men,  were  passed  from  hand  to  hand  by  the  explorers,  and 
disappeared  into  the  limbo  of  worn-out  pamphlets  and  dis- 
carded tracts.  More  learned  tomes  of  geographers  and 
historians  came  later,  printed  for  the  most  part  in  small 
numbers,  frequently  only  bound  up  as  there  was  prospect 
of  a  sale,  and  also  subject  to  that  "fata  libellorum"  so 
familiar  to  the  world  of  letters.  But  few  libraries  in  the 
world  possess  even  the  major  part  of  the  original  printed 
sources  for  American  history.  Many  early  books  of  prime 
importance  exist  in  but  few  perfect  copies — in  numerous 
cases  but  one  such  is  known.  The  task,  then,  of  gathering 
a  real  library  of  Americana  is  (and  has  been  for  two  cen- 
turies) supremely  difficult  and  arduous. 

And  in  these  later  days,  particularly  since  the  appear- 
ance of  Justin  Winsor's  monumental  history,  there  has 
arisen  a  collector's  demand  for  Americana  which  has  re- 
ceived the  fullest  commercial  exploitation.  Prices  and 
costs  have  multiplied  literally  more  than  tenfold  in  my  own 
recollection.  As  a  consequence,  mere  rarity  has  often  been 
exalted  into  value,  while  fundamental  books  have  become 
the  sport  of  competing  collectors  and  the  prey  of  the  shrewd 
financiers  among  dealers  the  world  over.  None  but  one 
who  joins  a  wise  head  to  a  generous  purse  may  safely  fish 
in  these  troubled  waters  of  modern  auctions  and  interna- 
tionally important  sales. 

Fortunate  indeed  is  Michigan  that  one  of  her  own  sons, 
who  has  kept  before  him  the  aim  of  gathering  a  true  li- 
brary of  Americana,  has  combined  the  scholar's  judgement 
as  to  fundamental  value  with  the  collector's  watchful  and 
keen  enthusiasm.  And  thrice  fortunate  that  he  has  had 
a  vision  of  what  such  a  library  can  do  in  promoting  histori- 
cal studies  in  his  Alma  Mater.  Not  for  the  mere  joy  of 
possession,  not  for  the  lust  of  ownership  has  he  gathered 

10 


from  far  and  near  the  original  printed  accounts  of  the  dis- 
coverers and  explorers,  the  tracts  revealing  the  fates  of 
Virginia  and  New  England  and  the  middle  colonies  in  the 
seventeenth  century,  the  early  voyages  to  Canada  and  to 
our  own  region  of  the  Great  Lakes.  Not  to  say  that  on 
his  shelves  rests  the  most  complete  collection  of  pamphlets 
relating  to  the  American  Revolution  and  of  maps  and 
manuscripts  describing  its  progress  and  its  triumphant 
close  has  he  spent  long  hours  and  much  labor.  Rather  to 
provide  the  materials  for  a  first-hand  study  of  the  earlier 
history  of  our  country  and  the  means  of  utilizing  them  to 
the  full  for  the  benefit  of  historical  scholarship  has  been  his 
steadfast  purpose.  That  purpose  culminates  in  the  gift 
of  this  building  and  of  his  collection — the  William  L.  Cle- 
ments Library  of  American  History. 

On  the  University  rests  the  obligation  to  carry  into  full 
fruition  the  trust  thus  nobly  conferred.  Already  the 
Regents  have  voted  adequate  support  and  aid.  There  is 
every  prospect  that  the  library  will  grow  worthily  with  the 
years,  will  become  a  notable  part  of  the  University's  equip- 
ment for  research.  But  more  is  needed  than  secure  pro- 
vision for  care,  than  increasing  strength  in  rare  books  and 
precious  manuscripts.  A  spirit  of  devotion  to  historical 
studies,  a  passion  for  the  truth  about  America  can  alone 
justify  such  a  gift  and  such  a  building  as  this.  Here  is  an 
unrivalled  opportunity  for  founding  a  real  school  of  Ameri- 
can history — nay,  more — for  creating  anew  an  enthusiasm 
for  that  remoter  past  of  our  country  whose  study  seems 
strangely  enough  to  have  fallen  into  neglect  and  almost 
into  oblivion  among  us.  Since  Parkman  made  the  no- 
bility of  the  Jesuit  missionaries,  the  care-free  and  adventur- 
ous spirit  of  the  voyageurs,  the  petty  strife  of  explorer  and 
savage  live  once  more  in  his  glowing  pages;  since  Prescott 
carried  us  breathless  along  the  path  of  the  conquistador es, 
since  John  Fiske  wrote  his  solid  and  brilliant  narratives, 
there  has  risen  no  great  historian  of  America's  earlier  day 
to  inspire  alike  the  respect  of  scholars  and  the  enthusiasm 
of  the  reading  public.  The  school  history  and  the  historical 
novel  appear  to  supply  the  greater  part  of  what  knowledge 

n 


is  current  today  as  to  Columbus  and  the  Cabots,  the  early 
discoverers,  the  hardy  explorers,  those  Spanish,  Portu- 
guese, French,  Dutch,  Swedish  and  English  navigators  who 
slowly  revealed  to  Europe  the  position  of  the  continent, 
its  shore-line,  its  great  lakes  and  might  rivers,  its  mountain- 
chains,  and  its  great  plains.  Our  professed  and  profes- 
sional— not  to  say  professorial — historians  have  lost  the 
romance  of  America  in  their  multifarious  monographs  and 
theses  on  little  themes.  Here  are  to  rest  the  true  and  vital 
materials  out  of  wrhich  that  romance  may  be  re-created. 
And  more,  here  are  the  books  from  which  alone  can  be  won 
the  knowledge  which  must  underlie  all  truly  successful 
historical  writing. 

The  opportunity,  then,  which  lies  before  our  historians 
in  this  temple  of  American  history  is  indeed  marvelous. 
In  Boston  and  Cambridge  one  can  find  as  much  of  the 
earlier  records  as  will  soon  be  housed  here — in  Providence 
even  more.  In  New  York  City  are  fully  as  great  collections. 
But  nowhere  else  in  America — so  far  as  my  knowledge  goes 

—is  there  any  library  of  Americana  at  the  disposal  of  uni- 
versity students  equal  to  the  Clements  Library.  On  the 
shores  of  the  Pacific,  indeed,  the  Bancroft  and  Huntington 
libraries — six  hundred  miles  apart — each  has  preeminence 
in  its  own  field,  and  the  Bancroft  Library  is  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  California.  It  is  our  confident  hope  that  out  of  the 
happy  conjunction  of  the  Clements  Library,  the  General 
Library,  the  Law  Library,  and  the  historical  faculty  and 
students  will  come  a  fresh  school  of  American  historical 
scholarship.  Nor  should  we  forget  that  but  forty  miles 
away  in  Detroit  another  alumnus  of  this  University  has 
gathered  and  given  to  his  city  a  collection  on  the  North- 
west which  will  go  far  to  aid  and  supplement  these  libraries 
here.  With  the  Clements  Library  for  the  earliest  period, 
for  the  settlement  of  the  Atlantic  Coast,  and  the  American 
Revolution;  with  the  Burton  Library  for  Canada  and  the 
Great  Lakes  Region ;  with  the  Law  Library  for  the  legal  side 
of  our  development ;  with  the  General  Library  supplement- 

ng  all  these  and  providing  as  well  the  European  back- 
ground of  American  history;  with  the  eager  spirit  and 
generous  enthusiasm  which  have  characterized  Michigan 

12 


teachers  and  students,  why  should  there  not  grow  up  here 
a  group  of  competent  and  effective  students  of  our  coun- 
try's past,  who  shall  make  our  earlier  history  live  once  more 
for  coming  generations? 

But,  says  the  gentle  cynic,  it  is  not  in  Academe  that 
great  geniuses  arise  and  thrive.  And  sooth  to  say,  it  is 
true.  The  list  which  inscribes  among  English  writers  alone 
the  imposing  names  of  Gibbon  and  Grote,  Carlyle  and 
Macaulay,  Parkman,  Motley  and  Prescott,  John  Richard 
Green  and  James  Bryce  has  but  few  professors  even  ap- 
pended to  its  illustrious  roll.  But  when  one  recalls  the 
solid  labors  of  the  great  French  Benedictines  of  St.  Maur, 
of  the  Bollandists,  of  such  men  as  have  carried  through  the 
great  publications  of  corpora  and  rolls  and  archives,  one 
sees  the  value  and  the  service  even  of  professional  and 
academic  historians.  Not  here,  perhaps,  shall  any  Ma- 
caulay or  Carlyle  gather  the  store  of  knowledge  which 
directs  and  underlies  his  passionate  enthusiasms.  Per- 
haps not  here  shall  be  found  the  inspiration  of  the  prophet 
who  shall  one  day  interpret  for  us  the  mighty  panorama  of 
the  upbuilding  and  unfolding  of  democracy  on  this  con- 
tinent. But  if  genius  rises  not  from  study  in  this  house  to 
write  undying  verse  or  heroic  prose,  we  may  not,  the  donor 
may  not,  grieve  over  lost  chances.  Genius  is  of  the  spirit 
which  bloweth  where  it  listeth.  Rather  shall  we  hope  here 
for  steady  labor,  for  careful  training,  for  honest  output  of 
sterling  work,  for  a  tradition  of  high  aims  and  vigorous 
performance,  for  a  Michigan  school  of  American  history 
which,  with  the  almost  unrivalled  means  of  this  library, 
shall  carry  on  the  spirit  of  those  pioneers  who  wrought 
well  with  far  lesser  tools. 

Perhaps  it  is  fitting  to  pause  a  moment  to  pay  tribute 
to  some,  at  least,  of  these  men  who  have  made  this  Uni- 
versity illustrious  by  their  work  in  History.  Moses  Coit 
Tyler  wrote  here  the  first  portion  of  his  great  work  on  the 
history  of  earlier  American  literature.  How  he  would 
have  rejoiced  at  the  privilege  of  using  many  of  the  books 
soon  to  stand  on  this  spot!  How  painfully  he  gathered, 
by  many  journeys  and  by  generous  loans,  the  materials 
for  his  first  two  volumes!  Burke  Hinsdale  taught  Educa- 

13 


tion  here  for  years  with  that  shrewd  common  sense  which 
made  him  a  power  in  the  land.  But  his  real  forte  was  the 
history  of  the  old  Northwest  Territory  and  of  America 
generally.  What  treasures  of  historical  knowledge  he 
revealed  to  the  student  whom  he  thought  worthy  of  his 
confidence  and  his  guidance!  In  earlier  years  Andrew  D. 
White  began  and  Charles  Kendall  Adams  followed  the 
honorable  succession  of  historians  at  Michigan.  I  may  not 
call  the  entire  roll,  nor  name  men  still  living,  but  let  me  at 
least  mention  the  names  of  Angell  and  of  Cooley — the  one 
full  of  quite  unusual  knowledge  of  American  affairs,  re- 
vealed frequently  in  unexpected  glimpses  and  vistas  in  con- 
versation; the  other  incisive  and  clear,  blending  always 
the  jurist  and  the  historian  in  his  writing  and  his  lectures. 
It  is  a  succession  demanding  no  small  attainment  of  us  who 
have  followed  in  their  footsteps.  May  their  mantles  de- 
scend on  the  young  men  who  shall  labor  here  in  this  build- 
ing and  who  shall  carry  on  their  work  in  the  next  quarter 
century ! 

And  now  it  is  my  high  privilege  to  express  publicly  the 
deep  feeling  of  the  University  toward  the  man  who  has 
built  up  the  Library  to  be  placed  here,  putting  himself 
unreservedly  into  its  gathering,  and  who  gives  this  building, 
whose  cornerstone  he  has  just  laid  with  his  own  hands. 
To  you,  sir,  we  are  profoundly  grateful!  The  University 
thanks  you.  It  acknowledges  its  debt  to  you  and  the  deep 
obligation  you  have  placed  upon  it  by  this  gift.  It  will 
be  faithful  to  the  trust  with  which  you  have  endowed  it. 
Speaking  for  Regents,  Faculties  and  officers,  for  alumni 
and  students,  I  pledge  to  you,  sir,  not  alone  our  thanks, 
but  our  promise  to  care  for  this  gift,  to  add  to  it  in  worthy 
fashion,  and  to  use  it  to  the  benefit  of  our  Alma  Mater  and 
our  country.  You  have  spent  lavishly  of  money,  more 
lavishly  of  time  and  strength  and  thought  to  make  possible 
this  shrine  of  American  history.  It  remains  for  us  and  for 
our  successors  to  carry  on  your  work,  to  fulfill  your  plans, 
to  profit  by  your  labors  and  your  generosity.  Happily, 
we  have  you  with  us  to  guide,  to  aid,  to  inspire  us.  With 
Horace,  our  final  word,  as  we  salute  and  thank  you,  is 
Serus  in  caelum  redeas! 

14 


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